An Arizona-based meat company is recalling 6.5 million pounds of raw beef because it may be contaminated with salmonella, the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced Thursday.
The recalled meat, which includes products like ground beef and sirloin trimmings, was packaged from July 26 to September 7, and sold in stores under the brand names Cedar River Farms Natural Beef, Comnor Perfect Choice, Gourmet Burger, Grass Run Farms Natural Beef, JBS Generic, Showcase, and Showcase/Walmart. Health officials are warning that consumers should throw out any of these products they find in their fridges and freezers. (See here for a detailed list of the recalled products and product labels.)
To date, 57 cases of salmonella illness in 15 states have been linked to the meat that’s been recalled. Most of these illnesses were diagnosed from August 5 to September 6. It took several weeks for USDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others to discover the Arizona producer — JBS Tolleson, a subsidiary of JBS, the largest meat company in the world — was the common supplier linking the cases.
Salmonella sickens 1.2 million Americans every year and causes 450 deaths. Bacteria-contaminated foods — eggs, chicken, beef, milk, and raw produce — are the source of the vast majority of illnesses. The most common symptoms of salmonella poisoning are diarrhea, fever, and abdominal cramps. Most people get better within a week and don’t need any treatment. But the antibiotic-resistant stain, Salmonella Newport, implicated in the current outbreak is more difficult to treat and more likely to cause hospitalization and death.
